You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 603

“We found the phone!”

The investigator, who had been rummaging through the saltwater fish tank, pulled out an object wrapped in layers of ziplock bags and waterproof vinyl, waving it in the air.

It was so tightly wrapped that if he hadn’t said it was a phone, it could have been mistaken for drugs.

“A phone?”

Heo Minwoo, who was checking electronic information in front of the computer in the living room, turned his head toward the study at the sound of the voice.

“It’s probably a burner phone. I thought he would have gotten rid of it a long time ago.”

The investigator whispered to Heo Minwoo, who was about to head to the study.

That afternoon, a search and seizure warrant was issued for Oh Junhong’s residence.

The police, judging it to be a matter of urgency, raided his house without prior notice.

“We couldn’t find Im Hyunil’s burner phone. It’s a relief we found this, at least.”

The investigator said with a satisfied smile.

As he said, they hadn’t had much luck with the search and seizure of Im Hyunil’s belongings.

On the day of the incident, Im Hyunil was arrested at the scene, so they immediately proceeded with a search and seizure of his possessions.

However, he only had one phone under his own name.

Afterward, the police requested Im Hyunil to voluntarily submit several pieces of evidence, but he refused everything, and search and seizure warrants were issued for his home and laboratory.

Unfortunately, his burner phone wasn’t found there either.

It seemed like he might have discarded it in the mountains while escaping from Ribbon Medical Center, but despite thoroughly searching the area, they couldn’t find it.

Therefore, finding Oh Junhong’s burner phone was quite an achievement.

There’s a reason why the search and seizure of Oh Junhong was delayed.

The police believed that Oh Junhong was at least an accomplice because CCTV footage seized from Ribbon Medical Center showed him contacting Onodera’s mother several times.

Based on this, they requested search and seizure warrants and arrest warrants multiple times, but the court continued to reject the warrants until yesterday.

The reason given was insufficient evidence of criminal activity.

Oh Junhong had also willingly submitted his phone under his own name.

Of course, the phone he voluntarily submitted didn’t contain any content related to organ trafficking.

“Lawyer.”

Just as Heo Minwoo arrived at the study, Oh Junhong, who was watching the search and seizure, whispered to the lawyer present at the scene.

Then the lawyer stepped forward.

“Just a moment. You should only copy the relevant content on-site, right?”

Heo Minwoo stared intently at the lawyer.

It was the lawyer Oh Junhong had hired in advance.

When the police first arrived, Oh Junhong questioned whether a nighttime execution [referring to the execution of the warrant] was illegal as soon as the word ‘search and seizure’ was mentioned.

Then, after seeing the ‘Execution permitted after sunset and before sunrise’ stamp on the warrant, he said he would call his lawyer.

It was as if he was following a manual.

There was no justification for refusing the lawyer’s presence, so the police had no choice but to agree.

He calmly told his wife and children to ‘go to Grandma’s’ and then waited a full hour for the lawyer.

Generally, the time allowed for waiting for a lawyer is about an hour, and he used all of that time.

It’s expected that the lawyer had a heated strategy meeting while rushing to Oh Junhong’s house.

After preparing so diligently, it would be strange not to put up some resistance.

The role of the suspect’s lawyer at a search and seizure scene is mostly to obstruct.

“Yes, that’s what we’ll do. Unlock it so we can check the contents.”

Heo Minwoo held out the phone towards Oh Junhong.

Then Oh Junhong whispered to the lawyer once again.

Again, the lawyer said to Heo Minwoo.

“That’s not Oh Junhong’s property. He doesn’t know why it’s there.”

“Is that so?”

Heo Minwoo took the phone out of the ziplock bag and connected it to the PC.

As expected, the phone was locked, and the contents could not be verified.

“We can’t open it here, and the messenger content inside is also subject to search and seizure, so we’ll have to seize the phone itself. We’ll note on the seizure list that it’s not his property.”

“If it’s not his property, shouldn’t it not be subject to seizure? What if that’s Oh Junhong’s wife’s phone? Would you still seize it then?”

“Is that his wife’s phone?”

“I don’t know.”

“Electronic information is subject to search and seizure, and isn’t this an electronic information storage device? We’ll check who owns it. Please come and observe when we do.”

Heo Minwoo replied in a formal tone.

Then the lawyer shook his head at Oh Junhong.

He must have known that his words wouldn’t work.

Since it would be revealed that Oh Junhong owned it once the lock was unlocked, it was questionable why he bothered to say it wasn’t his, making him look suspicious.

Perhaps the contact information exchanged through this burner phone was vague, and there was no clear indication of ownership.

Still, the connection will be found eventually.

“Haa…”

Leaving Oh Junhong’s sigh behind, Heo Minwoo took the phone and went to the living room.

“Ah, those reporters are really helpful. I would have cried if we hadn’t found this.”

A detective glanced at Oh Junhong and the lawyer, who were still watching the search and seizure in the room, and bumped Heo Minwoo’s shoulder with his own.

Heo Minwoo chuckled.

“You can say that again.”

The reason why the warrant, which had been repeatedly rejected, was issued today was that Choi Jonghyun and Jo Bongjoon had handed over evidence to the police in advance before dropping the bombshell of Choi Jaehoon’s recording on the broadcast.

The police quickly verified the provided evidence and re-applied for the warrant based on it.

Thanks to that, the search and seizure were conducted around the time Choi Jaehoon’s recording was played on the broadcast.

“It’s not easy to get a nighttime warrant, you know.”

Heo Minwoo added.

“They hide it with all sorts of methods, but we find everything. The bottom of the fish tank is a bit classic.”

The detective chuckled.

“If we dig into this, we might find Im Hyunil’s burner phone too.”

“I guess so.”

The search and seizure continued after that, and it ended a little after 3 a.m.

There were considerable gains.

Among the copied files, there were plenty of securities presumed to have been received by Oh Junhong as compensation for participating in organ trafficking.

“It seems like the Japanese embassy keeps calling to ask for Onodera’s mother to be sent back. They even called at 8 p.m.”

The detective said, checking the missed calls.

Heo Minwoo clicked his tongue as he got into the car.

“Onodera Shizuka violated immigration laws and even engaged in human trafficking in Korea. How can they so shamelessly ask for her to be sent back?”

“It’s probably because she’s the Prime Minister’s daughter. They’re also making a fuss about sending the grandson back quickly. They’re saying he’s not subject to punishment, so why are we keeping him? They say we’ve had enough time for questioning. Keeping a sick child like that is a problem from a humanitarian perspective.”

“Seriously. Who decided it was enough? Didn’t the immigration office tell them that he’s getting along great with his dad? We even got a doctor’s opinion that this level of care is not a problem for the child’s health.”

“They did. I almost told them that we’ll put the grandfather on Interpol’s [International Criminal Police Organization] wanted list as soon as the evidence comes out, so they should wait quietly.”

If I had said that, they would have said, ‘How can you threaten the head of a country’s government like that?’

It would also affect Korea-Japan relations, and if necessary, we should coordinate through the embassy. Starting with an Interpol warrant is not polite.

It hasn’t been revealed in Japan or Korea which family the foreigner who attempted organ trafficking belongs to.

But if this is revealed, even if he is the Prime Minister, he will not be able to avoid resigning.

“When will the article be published in Japan?”

It would be better if we published the article in our country first, but realistically, the President has already taken on a lot of risk by putting so much effort into the investigation.

We shook Onodera until she was finished, but we can’t shake the relationship with Japan.

It would be better in many ways if the article came out in Japan first.

“Won’t it be soon?”

* * *

“What brings a reporter to meet me?”

As Kirihara opened the door and entered, the man sitting inside greeted her with a faint smile.

“Councilor Kobayashi, it’s been a while. How have you been?”

“I was so nervous when the reporter asked to see me this early in the morning.”

Kobayashi is a ten-term councilor who lost the Prime Minister position to Onodera in the recent election and has more support from the younger generation than Onodera.

He worked as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from his 20s and gradually entered politics, starting as a secretary to a prominent member of the National Assembly [Japan’s legislature].

His style is strong in performance, so opinions are divided, but his support base is solid.

Unfortunately, he lost to Onodera Masao, who came from a political family that had been passed down for generations.

“You’re not here to say something scary, are you?”

Kobayashi asked Kirihara, who was sitting across from him.

Then Kirihara replied.

“It is a scary story. But it’s not a scary story for you, Councilor.”

“What’s going on?”

“Haven’t you noticed to some extent? The story has already been circulating enough.”

Kirihara said, narrowing her eyes.

Even in Japan, it was reported early on that the daughter of a prominent politician in their country had been caught engaging in organ trafficking in Korea.

Of course, most people thought, ‘Is she really prominent or just not famous?’

However, as the content of attempting a heart transplant was revealed, among those who knew that the grandson had a heart problem, there was a secret rumor that ‘Maybe that prominent politician is the Prime Minister?’

There’s no way Kobayashi, who lost to Onodera and suffered a setback, would have missed that information.

“Hasn’t enough time passed for Councilor Kobayashi to have heard the story? I’m sure you already knew why I asked to meet.”

Moreover, Kobayashi was from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wasn’t he?

After Onodera Shizuka was arrested, the embassy’s phone never stopped ringing with requests to send her back.

Kobayashi wouldn’t have failed to plant an informant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition, the government would have contacted the Korean government.

Judging from the fact that there was no mention from Choi Jonghyun about trying to send Onodera’s mother and son back, it seems that even if they contacted them, there were no results.

“The political world is a place where all sorts of stories are heard. There could be a situation where you make a false step and get into trouble.”

“It’s not a false step. You have many informants. It’s almost time for the morning newspapers to be delivered. The printing was finished a long time ago. It’s impossible that you don’t know what kind of article will be published.”

Kobayashi, who had been acting reserved all along, eventually laughed.

“You’re talking about the Prime Minister, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I think the reporter thought I would already be prepared. Why did you bother to meet me?”

“As you know, it hasn’t been revealed in Korea yet that the organ buyer is Onodera Shizuka. I guess they’re waiting for us to break the news first, right?”

“So that’s why Kyokuto [a fictional Japanese newspaper] is publishing it in the morning, right? But why me specifically?”

“I think this is an opportunity for you, Councilor, to take down the Prime Minister.”

Kirihara said leisurely.

If you want to freely criticize the Japanese Prime Minister in Korea, the first step is to make him no longer the Prime Minister.

That way, the pressure on the Korean government can be reduced, and in some cases, Interpol can be put on the wanted list more easily.

Personally, Kirihara really wanted to see Onodera on Interpol’s wanted list.